80-Year-Old Graduates From College With Honors Alongside Two Of Her Grandchildren

Sweet story to end the semester.

Thinking about what barriers, if any, prevented her from being a "traditional student"
Is it ever "too late" to go back to college? is it worth it?

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/05/rosa-salgado-miami-dade-_n_7205582.html?utm_hp_ref=college&ir=College

Underprepared for the Profession: The lack of minority Ph.D.’s has a lot to do with the lack of socialization into academic life

Building Future Faculty Program, held annually at North Carolina State University
The program is aimed at helping underrepresented (by virtue of their race or gender) graduate students and Ph.D.’s to enter the profession. In three days of career workshops and networking, we built various forms of capital that we hope to parlay into full-time, tenure-track jobs

A cyclical, negatively reinforcing pattern seems to persist in doctoral education. One the one hand, faculty demographics do not reflect the increasingly diversified undergraduate population. Minority students may not pursue a Ph.D. because they see a lack of mentors, a lack of financial support, and a lack of "fit." Some undergraduates don’t even realize that graduate study is an option; their potential success in a Ph.D. program is dependent on them hearing about it, often by chance.

Read more here: http://chronicle.com/article/Underprepared-for-the/229915/

U. of Illinois to Offer a Lower-Cost M.B.A., Thanks to MOOCs

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign plans to start a low-cost online M.B.A. program in partnership with Coursera, the Silicon Valley-based MOOC provider, hoping to meet its land-grant mission of improving access and also to create a new stream of revenue at a time of shrinking state support for higher education.

Read more here:
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Illinois-to-Offer-a/229921/

Higher Ed Lobby Quietly Joins for Profit Colleges to roll back tighter rules

There is a current effort to crack down on for Profit Colleges that currently have access to grants and loans estimated to be in billions of dollars range . As we have talked about in class, students that attend for profit colleges may end up with a large amount of debt or unable to use their degree for the license needed for their profession. The goal of the new rules are to hold for profit colleges accountable. However, it seems that a number of colleges and universities are siding with for profit colleges. It was shared that one of the reasons for the shift is that the new regulations are not strong enough to weed out those problematic for profit colleges.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/05/higher-ed-lobby-rules_n_7215986.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education

Arizona Judge rule some Undocumented Students eligible for in state Tuition

 I previously posted on the blog an article about how the University of Illinois was working on proposing legislation that would allow undocumented students to be eligible for state financial aid. Some states are going as far as not allowing undocumented students to receive in state tuition. This article talks about how Maricopa Community College allowed undocumented students to receive in state tuition following the creation of the deferred deportation by President Obama. As a result, Maricopa Community College was sued by the state of Arizona.

A judge has ruled that federal law not state law governs residency status and that the state was in no position to challenge the rates offered by Maricopa Community College. I anticipate that this decision will be challenged and defer Maricopa Community College ability to offer in-state tuition rates to undocumented students.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/05/06/arizona-judge-some-undocumented-students-eligible-state-tuition

American Flags & Campus Controversy

The American Flag has been used to protest the treatment of Black Americans at Valdosta State University and Wright State University, as this article refers to students who are stepping on the flag to demonstrate their frustration. According to the article "Desecrating an American flag has officially been considered protected speech since 1989, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the First Amendment protects symbolic political expression, including burning the American flag. That hasn’t stopped critics on social media and in the conservative press from calling for the students to be punished -- or worse."

What does everyone think about the students' actions? Should colleges and universities be able to better monitor/manage the manner in which their students protest?

What's In A Name? When Peace College Transitioned to William Peace University

The Hurtado & Ruiz and Langdon articles brought to mind the transition of Peace College, the former women's college in Raleigh, North Carolina, to William Peace University, a co-ed institution. This transition began to take place in 2009 with the enrollment of male students in night courses, culminating with a name change and a shift to all co-ed classes in 2012. The after-effects have had an impact on the campus culture and climate. This blog post from The John William Pope Center For Higher Education Policy talks in greater detail about the trajectory of change, and speaks about the disconnect between the administration, students, alumnae, and other vested parties. 

This situation represents one in which the institutional identity was drastically changed. Additionally, reports indicate that the path towards these changes was not made clear to constituencies, and that institutional intentions could have been articulated in a way that incorporated the voice of students, faculty, and alumnae. From an outsider's perspective, even the name change emphasizes a strong shift with the addition of "William" to the name. This emphasis might serve to perpetuate a culture of gender-dominance, one in which Langdon identifies as a common occurrence at conversion schools.

Referenced blog: 
A College Copes With Changes - The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy

Racial Micragressions at University of Illinois

This article was posted earlier this week by the Chronicle of Higher Education about the University of Illinois and the experiences of racial minority students on our campus. As we've spent the semester talking about diversity in higher education and the importance of individuals' stories, this report resonates well with our conversations and the reality of our own experiences and our students' experiences here at Illinois. There were a few Inclusive Illinois talks this semester that I think addressed some of this, but I had not seen the full report until this article.  I may have completely overlooked an email from the university with this report in the plethora of other emails clogging my Inbox, but my immediate reaction was "why am I reading about this from the Chronicle and not my own university leadership?!" I found the individual stories of experiences from our students of color to be especially interesting, and disheartening that not just students, but our own colleagues, staff, faculty on this campus have used words and actions in such exclusive, discriminatory, and offensive ways as educators and professionals. Seems to counter the "Inclusive" Illinois philosophy.

Here's the link to the article (it's pretty basic): http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/most-minority-students-at-u-of-illinois-report-being-racially-stereotyped/98333

More importantly, here's the link to the report: http://www.racialmicroaggressions.illinois.edu/files/2015/03/RMA-Classroom-Report.pdf

The student who hung the noose

On April 1 on the campus of Duke University something very disturbing happened. I am sure many of you saw this on the news, but I don't believe we discussed this outright during class. A noose was found hanging on a tree near administrative buildings that are home to many of the multicultural communities. I have a close friend who works at Duke and through our text messages that day this was something that hit the Duke Community hard especially the African american students and staff

While I know we have moved past the basic racial and diversity issues, I thought this was interesting to bring up due to what happened after it was found and a student came forward. 

At first "It was swiftly condemned by university administrators at the time as "hateful and stupid."" In fact an e-mail was sent to the University community condemning “cowardly acts of hatred.” Student marches and silent protests were held. 

And then after a student came forward and took responsibility - "The investigation into the discovery of a noose hanging...has determined that it was a result of ignorance and bad judgment"

The student wrote an open letter to the Duke Community on May 1 apologizing for what they said was a "bad pun." 

You can read the full letter here - http://today.duke.edu/2015/05/nooseinvestigation. 

I have two immediate thoughts about this:

1. How in the world did he go through American school and not know anything about the noose and its historical context? Unless this student is an international student, I am unsure how this went unlearned. 
2. Ignorance does not mean you get out of jail free. Who are his friends that watched this happen and said nothing? 

And Questions:

1. Does a simple sanction and the ability to return to campus next semester give the correct punishment or should more have been done? 
2. Has the administration done the right thing here? In their response immediately and expanded?
3. Is there something really drastic missing from the K-12 Education system that we are leaving out important history? 

A Duke student wrote a letter back this the "Noose" Apology - http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2015/05/did-you-change-your-mind-black-duke.html. He brings up timing as this letter and lack of severe disciple came out in the midst of the turmoil in Baltimore and other cities. 

Other Links regarding this: 

• http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7191940?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000056

• http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/duke-student-apologizes-for-hanging-noose-and-will-be-allowed-to-return/98259

• https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/04/duke-announces-results-investigation-noose-found-campus

Thoughts?? Comments? 

Illinois State University President Dr. Dietz met with the leaders of the campus chapter of NAACP about the recent incidents across America and more specifically in regards to a racially charged twitter posting.  He urged students to read the message and attend the rally planned by the NAACP students.  Article link: http://mediarelations.illinoisstate.edu/isuhome/twitter.shtml

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (and a graduate of EPOL) releases a statement on unrest in Baltimore. Thoughts?

Cracking Down On For Profit Colleges

April 28, 2015

Abrupt Closing of Corinthian Campuses Leaves 16,000 Students Scrambling

http://chronicle.com/article/Abrupt-Closing-of-Corinthian/229717/

According to Blumenstyk and Fabris, 28 college campus owned by Corinthian Colleges Inc. was announcement that four of its schools — Everest College, Everest Institute, Heald College, and WyoTech would close their doors. This decision has affected 16,000 students, a majority of individuals who reside in California. Before the closure, Corinthian tried to find an interested buyer for their schools. However, one of the reasons why this company could not sale was due to the fact that “the California attorney general’s office refused to relieve the prospective buyers of liability stemming from the agency’s pending lawsuit." A lawsuit that was files for their misconduct of falsify information.

The closer affected 16,000 students who now find themselves left without a school and left with loan debt that may or may not fall on tax payers’ payment. However, it is stated that the main reason why Corinthian Colleges Inc. were audit was due to their false promises of job placements and opportunities to their graduating students. In other words, their students were promised with a job in their training profession as long as they completed their college program.

What I am thinking is what took so long for the U.S. Department of Education and California Attorney General to crack down on these schools. These colleges were charging an enormous amount of money to their students for a false American Dream fantasy. I feel bad for these individuals as I am assuming many of them are probably low-income and who probably approached these schools with the open mind set of wanting a better life and living outcome.  

An Administrator Turns Heads With a Pledge to ‘Take Back Control’ of the Faculty Senate

As a follow-up to our previous conversations regarding the changing role of the Faculty in governing/managing universities, an administrator at Kean University has vowed to take back control of the Faculty Senate.

This particular administrator has emailed individuals that report to him requesting that they provide him with the votes to elect a predetermined slate of candidates. In reading the article, it appears that this practice has been known to occur but not publicly. Additionally, the Kean University Spokesperson has indicated that there is nothing improper about the email.

http://chronicle.com/article/An-Administrator-Turns-Heads/229719/

LGBT Patient Treatment Guidelines Published for Physicians

The Association of American Medical Colleges has released a set of guidelines aimed at helping medical schools better train physicians to treat people who are LGBT, don’t identify with a gender, or are born with differences of sex development. The guidelines, contained in a report, are the first comprehensive set of standards for treating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients, according to a news release from the organization.

Such patients “often experience challenges when seeking care in doctors’ offices, community clinics, hospitals, and emergency rooms,” the release states. “These experiences, which can range from being made to feel unwelcome to outright discrimination and mistreatment, lead to poorer physical and emotional health.”

The report, which lists 30 skills physicians should master in eight areas, originated in a committee the association convened in 2012. That group is developing a “curriculum-integration workshop” to be tested at the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine in 2015.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/medical-colleges-group-releases-standards-for-treating-lgbt-patients/89835

Professor Fails the Entire Class

Irwin Horwitz had had enough. His students, he thought, weren't performing well academically and they were being disruptive, rude and dishonest. So he sent the students in his strategic management class an email:

"Since teaching this course, I have caught and seen cheating, been told to 'chill out,' 'get out of my space,' 'go back and teach,' [been] called a 'fucking moron' to my face, [had] one student cheat by signing in for another, one student not showing up but claiming they did, listened to many hurtful and untrue rumors about myself and others, been caught between fights between students…."

Horwitz said he would fail every single student.

Read more @ https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/27/professor-fails-his-entire-class-and-his-university-intervenes

Is this right or wrong? The University says this will not stand, students will not fail. Others argue that they agree with the actions of the teacher and that all students should fail. Others say that this happened because today's college (undergraduate) students are the 'entitlement generation'..... thoughts?

More Mascot News

Our discussions on university mascots and logos have been some of our fullest this semester – here's another recent story of a mascot change. Eastern New Mexico University is moving to change the name of their women's athletic teams from the Zias to the Greyhounds (apparently men's teams were changed years ago). Zias refers to the local Zia Pueblo peoples, native to the New Mexico region.

Controversy is afoot. Some in the university cite broad majority support from students, athletes, and alumni groups; others claim this initiative has taken place purposely under the radar. Still others believe this is largely a financial decision, allowing the university to align the licensing and merchandizing of both men's and women's teams. No one has reached out to the Zia pueblo on the matter of use and representation.

Here is a link to the blog post from the Chronicle of Higher Ed:
gs/ticker/jp/eastern-new-mexico-u-drops-use-of-tribal-name-for-womens-teams

And the original, local story from Portales, NM, which does a much better job of outlining the support and resistance across the university community:
http://www.pntonline.com/2015/04/24/zia-name-symbol-dropped/

The Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation

An interesting read on a discussion of cultural exchange vs appropriation and what they both mean.

"Where do we draw the line between “appropriate” forms of cultural exchange and more damaging patterns of cultural appropriation?
To be honest, I don’t know that there is a thin, straight line between them.

But even if the line between exchange and appropriation bends, twists, and loop-de-loops in ways it would take decades of academic thought to unpack, it has a definite starting point:Respect."

"What Cultural Exchange Is Not

One of the reasons that cultural appropriation is a hard concept to grasp for so many is that Westerners are used to pressing their own culture onto others and taking what they want in return.

True cultural exchange is not the process of “Here’s my culture, I’ll have some of yours” that we sometimes think it is. It’s something that should be mutual."

What Cultural Exchange Can Look Like

There needs to be some element of mutual understanding, equality, and respect for it to be a true exchange.

That’s what cultural exchange can look like – engaging with a culture as a respectful and humble guest, invitation only.

http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation/

Resign, Please

 In reading the highlights of Inside Higher Ed, I was quick to come across a reporting by Kellie Woodhouse. According to Woodhouse:
"new president takes the helm of a university, it’s common for there to be turnover among the leadership ranks. But by asking top administrators at Texas A&M University's flagship campus to submit letters of resignation before a new president even begins his term, the A&M system's chancellor is taking transition turnover to a new level of formality and breadth. In a letter, Chancellor John Sharp requested that vice presidents and advisers to the president of Texas A&M's College Station flagship submit their letters of resignation to incoming President Michael Young, the former president of the University of Washington. Sharp says he wants to institute the practice systemwide, making it standard operating procedure that the upper ranks at each of the A&M universities and the system office offer to resign when a new president or chancellor comes in."

In reading this piece, I was quick to identity yet another practice of higher education hiring and demoting of individuals from their higher education positions. I am not sure what I think about this practice. I think it has negative and positive aspects. For instance, is having administrators resign from their leadership roles interpreted as a chance for others to hold these roles or is it yet another structural process of inequality and control. Also, Woodhouse quotes Sharp and mentions how these high level positions are not lifetime positions. I am wondering when it comes to working in institution of higher education is any position a lifetime position or even a position one keeps for a period of time. And if so, what is an effective period of time and who has the say so when that time is up. 

 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/22/top-administrators-texas-am-asked-submit-resignation-letters-new-president